


General and Consort

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, Reunions, Separations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7574491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia had been putting it off for a while, but once Rey leaves to get Luke, she reaches out to the one who needs to know most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	General and Consort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smaragdbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts).



> I did not mean to write from such an angsty point, but the idea of an Established Relationship AND setting it against TFA warranted this. I hope it still suits.

Leia stared at the communication console for a long moment, then finally punched in the code she'd been procrastinating over. Rey was on her way to retrieve Luke, and there was someone who needed to be updated. Someone, Leia reminded herself, that she had avoided speaking with for far too long. 

The comm was answered after a long wait, and a familiar yet changed face met her. He had more silver showing in his short, black, wavy hair, and the wrinkles cut furrows around his eyes. Worse, those eyes didn't sparkle the way they once had, and Leia felt a momentary panic that maybe she shouldn't have contacted him.

"Princess," he said, and she felt a pang of despair all over again. He said it in the same tone that Han sometimes did, and her heart was heavy with losses. Yet, maybe there could be something gained. Maybe —

"Lando, old friend," she said softly.

"I heard about Hosnia already," Lando told her, his voice thick with emotions, emotions he only showed because they had history. Looking at her face, though, the man was able to learn far more than she had meant to let him see so quickly. "How did it happen, Leia?" he asked, even as he rubbed his face against the grief rising.

"He, and Chewie, took an inside agent up against the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system," Leia said in her best General voice. "While there, they met … they met —" Her voice failed; this was Lando! He knew, had been there to try and fix things in his own way when it all fell apart.

This was Lando, who had been all but destroyed on certain levels by what Ben had done, because of Luke's withdrawal.

Lando understood, all too well, and she saw his jaw harden in the comm screen, saw the eyes go even more flat. "Did Chewbacca survive?" he asked, knowing the life-debt, knowing the complicated mess that was kinship for a Wookiee.

"He did." Leia pulled herself together. "He's taking care of a girl, one Han found, one that is strong in the Force. That's actually why I am comming now, Lando."

"Oh?" The guarded tone spoke volumes, even as Leia watched that agile mind jump to a conclusion. "I told you, I have no idea where he is," he said bitterly.

"We do." Leia met his eyes in the screen, gentling her voice. "I'll send you coordinates, encrypted, to come to us. Because this girl, Rey, has gone to bring him home."

Lando drew in a deep breath, then shook his head. "Princess, I'm pretty certain I'm the last person he wants there, even if this girl does manage to drag him out of his exile."

"Lando, don't. Don't make the same mistakes Han and I made. Come here. Be here for when he arrives, and try!" she pleaded with him. She watched his face, watched the way he struggled to overcome the hurt and anger.

"Send the coordinates, but I'm making no promises this time," he growled. He then softened for her sake. "I am sorry, Leia, about Han. I never expected to outlive him at all."

"Thank you, Lando."

They cut the link, mutually certain there were no more words to say.

* * *

Poe was the one to actually see the _Lady Luck_ set down on the landing pads. He had vague memories of that ship, and the clearance codes given had all checked out as highest security. It wasn't often they had someone of the old Rebellion join them, and his curiosity was up, but he was out here to prep for patrol and couldn't actually satisfy his curiosity in full. He did look in time to see a man with an air of fashion and charisma coming off the ship. Poe took in the rich purples and blues of the clothing, the small half cape billowing out, and the sense of confidence the man exuded. 

Nor did the man need to be directed anywhere; Poe saw the General already coming out of command and crossing to meet him. Poe lingered just long enough to see the man bend down and wrap his arms around General Organa, as the two veterans of too many wars reunited.

* * *

Leia's head came up from the table it was resting on, her hand tightening on the bottle of brew she'd been working on as Lando and she shared memories of the men that had ruined their lives… and given them the joy they had needed to tide them through the darker times.

Lando looked up as he heard a distinct engine roar.

"That's the _Falcon_ ," he said.

"And Luke's aboard," Leia confirmed, before using a Force trick to push as much of the alcohol effect out of her mind and body. She stood, perfectly steady, and Lando stood beside her, a little more wobbly but working on every sobering trick he knew.

"Maybe I should wait," he said, hesitating.

For answer, Leia looped her arm in his and drug him out to the landing pads, not taking any chance of him haring off. He covered her hand on his arm and went with his head held high. No one but her could ever see that Lando Calrissian was a man with a broken heart, shattered by her brother.

* * *

_"Luke, please… let me in. Let me help you!"_

_"Lando." Luke's eyes had been almost blank as they looked at the man, then back to the line of pyres. "Go away. Save yourself."_

_"I want to save you."_

_Luke's eyes never came back to Lando. "There's been no saving me since I was born. Don't be the next death because of me, Lando."_

* * *

Rey was the first off the ship, and Leia's whole demeanor brightened to see the girl. Lando took notice of that, but he was looking past the pale girl, looking for Luke.

The sight of the Jedi Master in his dark cloak and miasma of grief was like a physical blow to Lando, making him wish, yet again, he'd refused the Princess. He forced his eyes to Chewbacca, walking behind Artoo and Luke alike, rather than address the Jedi just yet. Leia deserved to greet the man first, as his sister.

Except that wasn't how it played out. Rey immediately slipped into a long, fierce hug with Leia, no words in the air, and yet Lando felt like there was more communication there than most managed out loud. Some kind of Force thing, he decided, but it meant he really needed to be the one to salvage the situation and make Luke feel welcome.

"Kid, you look like hell," Lando said, without hesitating, without anything but his trademark charisma and older-than-everybody-else aplomb.

Luke actually smiled, and even if it didn't reach his eyes, it was a start. "Hello, Lando." He looked toward his sister, just letting go of Rey, and gave her a deep nod of his head. "Leia, I am…"

"No. Not now. Just let me have the happiness of you being home, Luke." Leia moved to embrace him hard, and he leaned his head down on her hair a long moment. When she let go of him, she gave him a small tug, guiding him to Lando's personal space, where the two men regarded each other with too many emotions flickering out of the past, threatening to consume them both.

_"Don't make the same mistakes Han and I made."_

Leia's words guided Lando to make the first move, hands coming up to cup around the back of Luke's head and neck, feet moving closer of their own accord, before he brought his forehead down against Luke's.

"I missed you, Kid."

That soft, low admission wrought a complete change in the studied, precise posture of the Jedi, and Luke's arms came around Lando's waist.

"I missed you too."

Behind them, Chewbacca roared out an approval of things, and Lando laughed a little, before shifting to keep Luke under one arm to walk back inside with him.

* * *

Lando saw Luke struggling with the concept of being in shared quarters, and for a moment, he wanted to strangle Leia's impulsive streak.

"I can go crash on the _Lady Luck_ if you don't want to share a bed, Luke."

"I'm not sure why you want to let me, to be honest." Luke said.

The evening had progressed with food, more alcohol, and Leia's insistence that a day of reunion was not a day to discuss tragedies. Fortunately, the First Order was still enough in shambles that they couldn't intrude. Lando had begun to hope that maybe he and Luke could find a new ground to stand on together, and those words actually cemented that.

"Because I never stop loving a person I choose, Luke." Lando removed his boots and cape, turning to the ordinary things of getting ready for bed in order to give his lover time to choose fully.

He'd never been so relieved to hear the sound of cloth being removed as when Luke started stripping down for bed as well. They both used the 'fresher to clean up a little before bed, and were soon settling, each to a side, before they rolled to face each other in the dim light from the electronics.

"I'm going to teach Rey," Luke said. "I can't ask you to forgive me, because what I did was done in fear and grief, things I should have known better than to let take control. But you're here, and I need to know where that means we stand."

Lando reached out to rest his hand along the much paler skin of his lover, regretting the lost years, the tragedies, the anger. "I'm going to be right where I should have been. At your side, giving you the anchor you need." He then stroked at the beard a little, chuckling. "I might ask you to trim this up though."

Luke softly laughed, before he twisted his head enough to kiss Lando's fingers. "For you, I think I can. Can't have General Calrissian's consort looking scruffy, can we?"

That word, scruffy, made them both aware of the hole that would never be filled again, as Leia had never stopped using it for Han, but then Lando slid closer in the bed, mouth seeking Luke's.

After a gentle kiss shared, Lando nudged Luke back among the pillows, coming to rest along his side, hand stroking down the man's chest.

"This General is just damned glad to have a chance to have his consort back."


End file.
